Assessment and comparison of the properties of biodiesel synthesized from three different types of wet microalgal biomass

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2016

Authors

Katkam N. Gangadhar (Author) Other; Hugo Pereira (Author) Other; Hermínio P. Diogo (Author) Other; Rui M. Borges dos Santos (Author) Other; B. L. A. Prabhavathi Devi (Author) Other; R. B. N. Prasad (Author) Other; Luísa Custódio (Author) Other; F. Xavier Malcata (Author) FEUP; João Varela (Author) Other; Luísa Barreira (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Applied Phycology

Serial No. 0921-8971 Vol. 28 No. 3

Pages: 1571-1578

ISSN: 0921-8971

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge

ISI Web of Science

Scopus

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology

Associated Projects

LEPABE - Laboratório de Engenharia de Processos, Ambiente, Biotecnologia e Energia

Other information

DOI: 10.1007/s10811-015-0683-5

Abstract (EN): In recent years, microalgae-based carbon-neutral biofuels (i.e., biodiesel) have gained considerable interest due to high growth rate and higher lipid productivity of microalgae during the whole year, delivering continuous bio- mass production as compared to vegetable-based feedstocks. Therefore, biodiesel was synthesized from three different microalgal species, namely Tetraselmis sp. (Chlorophyta) and Nannochloropsis oculata and Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Heterokontophyta), and the fuel properties of the biodiesel were analytically determined, unlike most studies which rely on estimates based on the lipid profile of the microalgae. These include density, kinematic viscosity, total and free glycerol, and high heating value (HHV), while cetane number (CN) and cold filter plugging point (CFPP) were es- timated based on the fatty acid methyl ester profile of the biodiesel samples instead of the lipid profile of the microalgae. Most biodiesel properties abide by the ASTM D6751 and the EN 14214 specifications, although none of the biodiesel sam- ples met the minimum CN or the maximum content of poly- unsaturated fatty acids with ≥4 double bonds as required by the EN 14214 reference value. On the other hand, bomb ca- lorimetric experiments revealed that the heat of combustion of all samples was on the upper limit expected for biodiesel fuels, actually being close to that of petrodiesel. Post-production processing may overcome the aforementioned limitations, en- abling the production of biodiesel with high HHV obtained from lipids present in these microalgae.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8